Probiotics May Naturally Reduce Kidney Stones

Posted by Josh
on
April 27, 2010

Probiotics have been found to be quite useful for preventing many
illnesses and various conditions that afflict people. Recently,
probiotics have been found to useful in reducing or preventing another
painful condition: kidney stones. Between 240,000 and 720,000
Americans experience painful kidney stones every year. The pain of
having a stone has been compared to that of childbirth. Since stones
occur four times more often in men than in women, those unfortunate men
experiencing kidney stones can now commiserate with mothers for
comparable levels of pain.

What Causes Kidney Stones?

The
exact reasons for kidney stone formation are not known, but it is
believed that the problem is related to dehydration and a high rate of
calcium excretion. People develop kidney stones when the small bowel
absorbs too much calcium, or their diet is too high in calcium or
another mineral, or there are intestinal problems, or perhaps a urinary
tract infection occurs. It may, however, be an inherited disorder. The
stones grow slowly over several months or years and are made up of hard
deposits of various minerals including calcium, uric acid, and oxalate.
Approximately 80 percent of all kidney stones are made of the compound
calcium oxalate which builds up in the kidneys in small, hard lumps.

Kidney
stones can also move into other parts of the urinary tract, causing
intense pain, infection and even kidney failure. Kidney stones have a
tendency to recur, meaning that a single person can suffer from them
many times. In about 85% of cases, kidney stones are small enough to
pass during urination. Passing usually occurs within 72 hours of the
first symptoms.

If the stone doesn’t pass, or if you have severe
pain, bleeding, fever, nausea, or can’t urinate, then immediate medical
attention is required. The stone may be shattered with shock waves and
the smaller pieces can pass with much less pain. In other cases, surgery
may be required. Pain medication will help while the stone is moving
through your system. But after it passes, you may need other drugs or
other options so that you don’t form stones again. These other options
can include nutritional changes such as reducing on oxalate-containing
foods, including spinach, rhubarb, beets, nuts, chocolate, coffee, black
tea, wheat bran, strawberries, and beans. Other options include adding
certain supplements that can include cranberry extracts or green tea.
But another approach is to include probiotics as a daily supplement.

Are Probiotics a Potential Treatment for Kidney Stones?

There
is growing evidence in scientific literature supporting the use of
probiotics to help reduce kidney stone formation. People who naturally
carry a probiotic bacteria called Oxalobacter formigenes are 70 percent
less likely to develop kidney stones than people whose dietary tracts
lack that bacteria. This probiotic is believed to prevent kidney stone
formation by breaking down or degrading calcium oxalate in the
intestinal tract before it can move into the kidneys. Other
studies havedemonstrated that probiotic supplements containing lactic
acid bacteria that included Lactobacillus acidophilus,
Lactobacillusbrevis, Streptococcus thermophilus, and Bifidobacteria
infantis can reduceurinary oxalate excretion by 24-40%. This helps
prevent kidney stone formation. Some probiotic products on the market
that contain some of these species of probiotics include Accuflora
Pro-Biotic-Acidophilus from Northwest Natural and Align Digestive Care
from Proctor and Gamble. The exact mechanism by which these probiotic
bacteria might reduce kidney stones remains unclear and more research is
required to fully determine this mechanism. However, these findings
are of great importance and point towards the use of probiotics as a
less painful way to reduce or prevent kidney stone formation.